Art of separating gold or other diamagnetic metals.



No. 791,305. PATENTED MAY 30, .1905.

L. T. WEISS.

ART OF SBP ARATING GOLD OR OTHER DIAMAGNETIG METALS.

APPLIOAIION FILED AUG.2 6, 1-903.

W/TNESSESP INVENZOH Patented May 30, 1905.

'UNiTEn'ST'ATss PATENT Orrics.

Louis T. WEISS, 'oF NEW YORK, N. Y.

am" F SEPARATING GOLD OR o HE mAMAen TmME ALS.

siencrniomlon forming part of Letters Patent No. 791,305, dated May 30, 1905.

. Application filed August 26, 1903. Serial No. 170.772.

iloaZZ whom it may concern." A

Be it known that I, LOUIS T. WEIss, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of'Brooklym-in the countyzof Kings and city.

and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful; Improvements-f in the Art of Separating Gold or other Diamagnetic Metals,

' of which'the following is a specification.

This invention relates, broadly, to the separation of particlesof diamagn etic iiietalsfsuch as gold,- for example-from sands. and other material with which the said metallic particles may bezmixed.

It is well known that particles of magnetic metals-such. as iron, for example may be separated from granular or powderedmaterial which isn magnetic with the',aid of mag'netsQand it is also well known that under ordinary conditions particles of gold and'other 'diamagnetiemetals cannot be thiis' separated from diamalgnetic granular material with.

which they are mixed;- but it istlgi', purpose of the present invention to so treatthe parti-- cles of diamagn'etie metal which it is desired to separate from a mass of granularmaterial' with which they are mixed thatthey may be separated from the latter by a magnet or mag- .i'etswithou-t previous amalgamation. i To this end my ir'nproveme'nt'n the art'consists in coating or plating each panticle of the diamagne'tic metalin a mass with iron by electroplating and then removing said plated or "coated particles witha magneto]: magnets.

1 do not herein claim -.n'or limit myself to any special apparatus for carrying out the process 1- clairn; but in the accompanying drawings an apparatus is illustrated by-which the endmay be attained.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional side view of the electroplating means and elevator, and Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the ap-- paratus at line 00 in Fig. 1, showing a mag netic separator. These views are somewhat diagrammatic and are designed. only to illustrate one form of apparatusior carrying out the process.

. A designates a trough or tank containing a liquid electrolyte B, which. may be a strong solution'of sal-a'm'moniae. In the tank is ro- '50, tatively mounted an iron -shaft C, on which is carried an anode D, of iron, and a cathode E, also of iron. The anode is in electrical con nection with the shaft; but the cathode, which ,is in the form of a conical drum, isinounted .on the shaft exterior to the anode, but insulated electrically therefrom.' Both the anode and cathode rotate in the liquid B. The posi tive-pole of a. generator G is connected at p with the'shaftC, and the negative pole thereof is connected at n with the cathode. The con.- nections may be made through suitable brushes- .To put the apparatus in operative condition for starting, the current is turned on and the shaft rotated. Igon from theanodedissolves in the liquid'B and hydrogen-forms on the cathode. After suflicient iron has been thus dissolved the operation of platingthe particles of gold in the granular-mass maybe undertaken. r I

*From a hopper F and spout F goldrbean ing sand or other gold-bearing material is fed into the smaller end of the hollow cathode and flows slowly down the incline to the larger end, the rotation of the cathode'serv ing to agitate and scatter it, so as to bring the "particles of gold into contact with the cathode. Thus these particles receive a coat- I ing of iron and become susceptible to the at-' tractiv'e force-of a magnet. Qn leaving the cathode-drum the material 8 falls into a receptacle H in the tank A and. is lifted out.v

therefrom-by means of an elevator 1, formed of an endless chain of buckets, from which the liquid drains back into the tank. The material carried up and containing the particles'of gold plated-with iron is dumped onto a hopper J, having an inclined platform J, Fig. 2, down which it-slides and from the lower edge of which it fallsin a thinuiat stream before one or more powerful electromagnets M,

which have their poles presented toward the descending stream. The mass of material be ing uninfluenced by the magnet falls directly downward into a receptacle or chute K, while the particles of iron-coated gold influenced by the magnet are deflected from their verticstlly-downwardcourse and fall into an. another receptacle' or chute L. This magnetic separator is not newfandtherc are others which may beused as well. Indeed, the presout invention is not limited to any plating and magnetic separatingmeans, and any such means may be used.

It is well known that-a number of metals 5 are magneticsuch as iron, nickel, &c.,ano thata number of others are diamagneticsuch as gold, silver, &c. and while my object isin the main to plate particles of gold mixed with sand, quartz, and the like, and I while iron is preferred as the coating metal because of its powerful paramagnetic qualities, the present invention is not strictly limited in this respect.

The material treated will 'be well dried by 5 preference after its removal from the platingbath and before it is subjected to treatment by the magnetic separator in order to elimimate more or less of its moisture, and thereby insure amore perfect separation of the metal from the accompanying matter. After the separation ofv the metal from the accompanying matter the magnetic and diamagnetic metals :are separated by any suitable means. By diamagnetic metals is herein meant the class of metals commonly called nonmagnetic.

1 am aware that it has been proposed to combine auriferous particles in a mass with a mercury amalgam containing iron to form a magnetic amalgam of gold, iron, and mercury in order to thus separate the gold by magnetic means. This method I do not claim. My process does not include amalgamation or the use of mercury at all prior to separation, nor is the gold amalgamated with the iron in my process.

Having thus described my invention, I claim The herein-described process of separating solid particles of diam-agnetic metalfrom accompanying/matter, which consists in first coating with magnetic metal by electrolysis such diamagnetic particles,-and then separating such coated metallic particles from the accompanying matter by magnetic means.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 29th day of July, 1903, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS T. WEISS. Witnesses H. A. CoNNn'rT, BENJAMIN H. HOLT. 

